Kalkwasser help!!

[madcanary]

been researching this for months countless threads and forums and advice and im still unsure. im sure it really is as easy as put a teaspoon in my tunze and pow done. im just so unsure. what happens if I have too much evaporation my Ato seems to fire a few seconds every few mins this normal? id say around a gallon a day total.
I've looked at kalk reactor with dosing pump how much is too much? I guess im over thinking something that is so simple now im just freaked out.
figured id make a post maybe someone can give the bread and butter im burned out of YouTube, brstv and I think I keep asking Facebook friends too many questions.
can some one help explain it im going to get some valium.

 

[zemuss]

Someone needs to move this to the right forum.

 

[madcanary]

sorry, thanks

 

[hart24601]

I didn't want to mess around with kalk in my ato. I did that in my biocube and it worked alright, but I decided for ato reliability and dosing consistency I would just buy a BRS 50ml/min pump and dose 150ml every hour. This puts in just under 1 gallon a day which is 1dkh/day for my system. I use 2 part for the rest. I like doing it this way so I can know what the tank is consuming and isn't dependent on changing evaporation conditions. My rimless 120 evaporates well over 1 gallon per day so that addition will not add too much, that is just the base I decided to set, 1 gallon, 1dkh/day just seems like a nice number to me, lol.

 

[madcanary]

great point, thanks. ill guess I can either decrease the amount or increase depending on my system, I dose according to ph or alk?

 

[Bassett22]

I used a dripper for a while, eventually my need for cal and alk grew that the dripper wouldnt keep up. So I swapped to a kalk stirrer that my ATO feeds through, that alone doesnt keep up with my demand, so I dose also. I wouldnt just put a teaspoon in your ATO reservoir, mix it first then poor the clear solution in there. Test over the next few days and see if your alk it climbing or still dropping. adjust it as needed. There is only so much you can do with kalk though. you will very likely outgrow it.

 

[evolved]

Someone needs to move this to the right forum.

Got it!

 

[hart24601]

great point, thanks. ill guess I can either decrease the amount or increase depending on my system, I dose according to ph or alk?

You dose according to alk loss daily. You just want to make sure pH doesn't get too high! That is why many dose through the ato or small amounts throughout the day like I do.

 

[zemuss]

There are two ways you can add Kalk to the tank with a reactor. Inline with an ATO or by itself. However if you add it outside of a ATO then I would check Salinity periodically because you are adding a dose of fresh RODI water with KALK which could lower the salinity of the tank.

I used to use a kalk reactor but switched to dosing BRS diy two part. I bought the kit and it is working pretty good. Just keep watching parameters for swings or demand increases.

"Z"

 

[glb]

great point, thanks. ill guess I can either decrease the amount or increase depending on my system, I dose according to ph or alk?

I dose according to ph because I have a co2 problem that brings ph down, but I'm constantly checking Alk to make sure it doesn't get too high. My goal is to keep Alk at about 10kh with kalk and hope that's enough to maintain ph.

 

[madcanary]

My ph swings between 7.66 and 7.86. Doing 5g water changes a week in a 86g system my alk will drop around 0.9Dkh. If I do 15g it will drop around 0.1Dkh using instant ocean reef salt. I just stepped up to LPS and have some SPS.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I've used limewater (kalkwasser in german) in my ATO for 19 years and think it a fine way to go. It has pros and cons like all methods. I compare it to other methods here:

The Many Methods for Supplementing Calcium and Alkalinity - REEFEDITION